The Biscuit sat down to interview William Harmon, a Concord, N.C. native and English professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, who has judged barbecue competitions for the past 15 years. He is in the process of writing a book called NC4BBQ: A Hundred-County Barbecue Tour of North Carolina and Elsewhere.

Listen to the podcast to learn all about the slow cooked meat. During the recording, Harmon discusses the way N.C. barbecue used to be, how to salvage leftover meat, judging BBQ competitions where teams spend more than $100,000 on equipment, and why he doesn’t barbecue himself.

 

 Discussing barbecue with William Harmon: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here are some highlights:

Why is there a distinction between barbecue in Eastern and Western N.C.? (1 min – 3 min)

In North Carolina there is a geological difference as you progress from the coast to the mountains. The eastern part of the state is what you call sand hills – it’s sand and a lot of pine trees. Places called Southern Pines and Pinehurst are in this sand hills region, and that kind of tree, the evergreen tree, does not burn very hot or very long so you really can’t do the proper cooking because you need a hard wood tree and ideally a tree that makes a nut like a walnut and ideally among all those the Hickory is the best.

What makes good barbecue? (2:50 min)

It should be a good ham or shoulder, shouldn’t have too much skin, outside meat, gristle, just the basic meat, not too much fat, not too many internal organs – I’ve seen tubes and veins and God knows what, including bristles hair.

What is your favorite way to eat barbecue? (3:40 min)

The classic is a chopped barbecue sandwich on a Marita bun with a certain kind of slaw that’s not too sugary or too mayonnaise-y. The slaw, the best slaw’s got a course chopped slaw with a tomato based sauce, even a little spice.

Where would you eat around Chapel Hill? (4:10 min)

Well the two closest places (Allen and Son, BBQ Joint) have disappointed me. There’s a place in Creedmore, which is about 30 miles from here, called Bob’s, which is pretty good for this part of the state.